Flooring company director charged with cheating banks of more than S$5 million
File photo of the State Courts in Singapore. (Photo: Xabryna Kek)
SINGAPORE: The director of a timber and flooring company, along with four of his suppliers, was charged on Wednesday (Jul 25) with cheating banks of more than S$5 million over four years.
Jason Sim Chon Ang, the 52-year-old director of Jason Parquet Specialist (Singapore), faces 16 cheating charges and two charges for offences under the Companies Act.
Between 2011 and 2015, Sim allegedly cheated several banks: DBS Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Malayan Banking Berhad, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, United Overseas Bank and RHB Bank Berhad.
The banks were allegedly deceived into delivering large sums of money ranging from S$38,000 to S$538,000 to companies Sim was working with for the purported delivery of goods such as timber and flooring.
The goods were not delivered, but Sim's accomplices got their employees to submit invoices and delivery orders to Jason Parquet Specialist. The company then used the invoices and delivery orders to deceive the banks into believing that goods were sold and delivered to Jason Parquet Specialist by the timber suppliers.
Four timber suppliers that Sim worked with were charged with abetting Sim in cheating.
Tan Ang Piaw, the 63-year-old Malaysian director of Sit Ley Timber, faces nine charges of abetting Sim in cheating and is out on bail of S$50,000.
Another alleged accomplice, 57-year-old Singaporean Tjioe Chi Minh, the director of Tati Trading, was given five charges of abetting Sim in cheating.
A third timber company director, 50-year-old Chua Mang Sin, was given one charge of abetting Sim in cheating.
The fourth man - a procurement officer at Primex Lumber, 55-year-old Daniel Chew Bong Tiong, was also given one charge of abetting the cheating.
For cheating and dishonestly inducing a delivery of property, the men can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
In August 2016, Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department said it was investigating Sim and Jason Parquet Specialist for a possible offence under the penal code.
Jason Parquet Specialist was liquidated in 2016, The Business Times reported in May this year, the same month that Sim left his roles as the group chief executive and non-executive director of parent company Jason Holdings Limited.
